Monday, January 7, 2013

Slut of the Month: Boudicca

Even her name is under some dispute. Alternately spelled Boudica and Boadicea, but that's what happens when you go back to 60 AD. They did not use Webster's or Dictionary.com back then.

Boudicca, quite likely some kind of queen or princess in her own right, was married to Prasutagus, who ruled the Iceni people and East Anglia in what is now England. Conquered by Rome in about AD 43, Prasutagus was allowed to continue to rule as a client king, apparently with Boudicca as a co-ruler.

When Prasutagus died, Rome - or their local representative - decided to change the game, and ignore P's will, which had left his kingdom jointly to the Roman Emperor and his daughters. Rather than accepting Boudicca as a client queen regent for the underage girls, this brain trust (not!) decided to show her who was boss by publicly flogging her, and ordering her young daughters (roughly 12 years old or so) gang-raped before her eyes. This d*ckless wonder was sure it would show this uppity woman how powerless she was, how she was just a slave and had better suck it up.

Boudicca wasn't the type to suck it up.

"She was huge of frame,
terrifying of aspect, and with a harsh voice. A great mass of bright red hair
fell to her knees: She wore a great twisted golden necklace, and a tunic of many
colors, over which was a thick mantle, fastened by a brooch. Now she grasped a
spear, to strike fear into all who watched her...…"
-Dio
Cassius (Dudley and Webster, 54)

Boudicca's story as portrayed by Alex Kingston in the 2003 movie

Boudicca did not take the rape of her daughter nor her own flogging
as a reason to curl up and become a meek little subservient woman,
grateful for whatever crumbs fell from Rome's table.

She
and her followers burned Camulodunom (Colchester), Londinium (later to
be called London), and Verulamium (St. Albans) to the ground. The
Iceni/Trinovante army was no gentler with the Roman women than the
Romans had been with Boadicca and her daughters.

English: Statue of Boudicca near Westminster Pier as commissioned by Prince Albert and executed by Thomas Thornycroft. It was completed in 1905. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While by Roman law Boudicca
had no real claim to succession after her husband's death, her people regarded
her as their natural leader, and their neighboring tribes were willing to support
any anti-Roman uprising. The indigenous people had suffered under Roman taxation
for years. They were also driven off their own land and subjected to lives as
prisoners and slaves. Sometime between 56 and 60 CE the Temple of Claudius was
erected in Colchester to commemorate the life of the Roman emperor who had destroyed
the majority of the Celtic culture; this immediately became an object of strong
derision for the British. They were also angered by the attack on the headquarters
of the Druidic religion. These realities urged neighboring tribes, among them
were the Trinovantes, to join Boudicca in her rebellion, which has been said
to have been 100,000 people strong, against Roman forces. They began by storming
the Roman cities of Camulodunum and Colchester, then
proceeding to the growing trade center of Londinium (London), and ending in
a final catastrophic battle.

If you prefer the story told in a music hip-hop video version, here's Boudicca, Superstar...

Here's a couple things that are certain.

We are not still talking about the d*ckless, nameless wonder of a Roman who ordered Boudicca flogged, are we? We are still talking about and reading about and watching movies about Boudicca/Boudica/Boadicea. Even though, in the end, she and her people were defeated by superior weaponry and military tactics.

The Diana L. Paxson/Marion Zimmer Bradley novel Ravens of Avalon is
one of my personal favorite tellings of the Boudicca legend. In it
Boudicca is portrayed as a woman who gives herself over to and becomes
possessed by the Celtic battle goddess, the Morrigan/ Morrigu, which
explains her sudden proficiency with battle and bloodlust after
basically being a housewife/judge for 15-odd years.

Then again, seeing your young daughters raped right in front of your face would really piss off a lot of women. (And men.)

Boudicca did not lead an all-female army. There are many, many decent men who really do not believe raping women is cool. But too often, men do need pressure or leadership by women to do the right thing. Right now in the US Congress the newest version of the decades-long bi-partisan Violence Against Women Act is stalled, because it includes protections for Native American women on the res, the LGBT, and women in this country illegally (even those brought here against their will to serve as sex slaves).

Oh, and the 2012 SAFER Act (to authorize funding for testing the backlog of rape kits, currently estimated at 400,000)? Died in committee for the 112th Congress, though they managed to score a pay raise. Why would anyone have a problem with the idea that thousands of rapists are walking the streets because we can't bother to test the rape kits and lock them up?

Because, FaceBook

Posting Schedule

Follow Via Email

Or Follow This Way

Google+, Please

The Amazon Affiliate Disclaimer Thing

Sometimes when I link to books, CD's, or DVD's on this blog, it goes to Amazon using my affiliate links. This means, should you click though and buy stuff that way, I get a small (very small) commission, which helps to offset my own book addiction.

Sometimes I link to B & N, or GoodReads - it all depends on my mood. If you choose to help keep me neck deep in reading material, I adore you; if you prefer not to (especially if you're supporting a local independent bookstore), I love you dearly anyway. *kisses*